Roasted Butternut Squash Puree (Holiday Sides)

Squash, in one form or another, seems to be on the majority of Thanksgiving tables each year and ours is no exception. There are several types of squash to choose from and any that I've ever tried are equally delicious, but my family's preference has always been for Butternut Squash and as far back as I can remember, it has always been pureed. My mother hosted Thanksgiving during my entire childhood and I took over for her when I got married and had a home of my own. So, I guess you could say that this is a butternut squash recipe that has evolved and been perfected over 30+ years.

My family loves it, so I hope you do too...

Roasted Butternut Squash Puree
(Serves 15+ people)

• 2 Large Butternut Squash
• 12 Tbls Butter, softened and divided (1 & 1/2 Sticks)
• 2-3 Tbls Honey
• 1 Cup Light Brown Sugar
• 2 Tsp Onion Powder
• Kosher Salt & Fresh Ground Black Pepper

1. Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Cut each squash in half lengthwise and carefully scoop out all of the seeds and stringy pulp. I use a standard flatware teaspoon or a melon baller. Then, using the tip of a sharp paring knife, make little 1/4" slits all over the flesh of the squash.

3. Add 4 tablespoons of the softened butter to a small bowl and stir it well until it's a smooth consistency. (I hadn't taken my butter out of the fridge quite soon enough, so I had to put it in the microwave.)

4. Add the honey to the butter and stir it in well.

5. Season the butter and honey mixture with a 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of fresh ground black pepper.

*Tip: This is the consistency that you want. As you can see, it's smooth and creamy and it's spreadable, but not melted. Similar to the consistency of mayonnaise. If, for some reason, your butter does happen to melt, it will still be OK. It just might not coat the squash quite as well.

6. Place the squash halves on a foil lined baking sheet, cut/flesh side up.

7. Using a pastry brush (I highly recommend the silicone brushes) spread the butter and honey mixture all over, to fully coat the squash halves.

8. Place the baking sheet in your pre-heated oven and bake for 1 to 1 & 1/2.

9. At about the 1 hour mark, check the doneness by piercing the squash with a paring knife. If the flesh is still hard at all, place them back in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes more, checking again at about 15 minutes. You want the knife to glide easily through to the bottom without any resistance. Squash can be fibrous and stringy if it isn't cooked thoroughly.

10. Once the squash is done, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool a bit before attempting to scoop the flesh out for pureeing. At this point, I usually score it (in a diamond pattern) with a sharp knife. This will allow it to 1) cool a little faster and 2) scoop out of the skin more easily.

11. While the squash is cooling, put the remaining 8 tbls of butter and the cup of brown sugar into a microwave safe bowl or Pyrex measuring cup and heat in the microwave until the sugar and butter are melted.

*Tip: I'm not going to specify a time, because microwaves can vary quite a bit in wattage and it could easily take more or less time for you, than it does for me. I would suggest using 10 to 15 second intervals and/or using 50% (or lower) power. You can take it out as long as the butter is completely melted because the brown sugar will continue to dissolve as you stir it with the hot butter.

12. While the squash is just cool enough to touch, scoop the flesh out into a mixing bowl.

13. Pour in the melted butter and brown sugar and add the onion powder, about a teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.

14. Now, this is where you have a few options... You can use a potato masher, a heavy fork, a food processor or blender, or my particular culinary weapon of choice, a stick - also called an immersion - blender, to puree the squash. It all really comes down to a matter of taste. I (and the folks that I am feeding) tend to like our squash to be on the smoother side and a stick blender or a food processor are usually the best choice for that outcome.

If there are a few teeny, tiny lumps, that's acceptable... as long as they're soft and not stringy. As with any vegetable that you are scooping from it's outer peel, it's possible that you might find a piece or two that slipped in there, whether you use a masher or a stick blender. If any small pieces of the outer peel are in your finished dish, they aren't hard to find or see. I just give the squash a quick, but careful stir and look for anything like that. If I find them, I just fish them out with a spoon and discard them. As gladiator extraordinaire Miss Olivia Pope would say... "It's  handled". Ha!

Enjoy and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Mary

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Ultimate Margarita Chicken With Tequila Lime Vinaigrette (In The Oven!)

The hubbers and I have consumed a Margarita or two in our day... I mean, for folks who enjoy a cocktail every day now and then, who doesn't love the idea of an icy cold, fruity, sweet, yet tart and slightly salty beverage on a hot summer night? (or day) Well, if you happen to be one of those people, then a Margarita is the total package. It also happens to be a particularly popular libation around the 5th of May; also known as Cinco de Mayo.

Since man (and/or woman) cannot live on alcohol-based beverages alone, I thought it'd be kinda fun to merge this much loved seasonal drink with one of my favorite foods. If you know me at all, then you have a pretty good idea of what that food is, but for those of you stopping by for the first time, I'll fill you in. It's chicken! Yup. I'm a bona fide, die-hard, lifelong, card-carrying chicken-holic. Trust me, if you spend even a little bit of time poking around here, you'll get plenty of proof.

So, how did this little culinary experiment turn out? Well, it's definitely a keeper, if I do say so myself.  And I'm not just basing that on my own opinion. Hubbers loved it. I can tell pretty quickly when I have a winning recipe on my hands, by of the sounds that he makes while he's eating. It's kinda like the soundtrack to a... hmmm, well... let's just say a certain genre of films that they keep in the back room at the video store. Not that I'd know anything about that, of course.

Ultimate Margarita Chicken
For the Marinade:

• 4 - 6 Bone-In (Split) Chicken Breasts
• 1/4 Cup Tequila
• 1/4 Cup Orange Juice
• Juice of 1 Lime
• Zest of 1 Lime
• 1/4 Cup Light Olive or Vegetable Oil
• Salt and Pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 375° F

Prepare the marinade by mixing together the tequila, orange juice, lime juice, lime zest, oil and salt and pepper.

Before we go any further, I'll let you in on a little secret for marinating meats and poultry: I didn't invent this little gem. Professional chefs have been doing it for... well, ever. My mom used to do pretty much the same thing with a fork when she would marinate flank steak. I'd completely forgotten this until I stumbled across a video on YouTube a few years ago and I've been doing my own version ever since. It's all about "piercing" the meat before seasoning it. The pros generally use a special little multi-bladed gadget, (I've included a short video at the end of this post, where Chef Steve Binks demonstrates) but you can accomplish the same thing by using the tip of a sharp paring knife to make small slits all over the chicken. Yeah, it's really that simple.

Simple and brilliant. Of course, it's up to you, but you really shouldn't skip this step, because it can make a world of difference in your finished dish. You'll end up with chicken (or steak or chops) that is extremely tender and juicy and full of the flavors from whatever marinade you're using. Just give it a try with this recipe and I'm pretty positive that you'll continue to use this method from now on.

When using bone-in chicken, (breasts, thighs and drumsticks) you can pierce the meat all the way to the bone. Although I would not recommend using the boneless version for this particular recipe, I do pierce boneless cuts of chicken, beef, pork, etc. prior to marinating. I just make slightly more shallow slits (about halfway through) on both sides of the meat.

Place the chicken in a 2 or 3 inch deep, glass or ceramic baking pan or casserole dish. Stay away from metal pans or bowls when using citrus based marinades. The citric acid tends to react with most metals and will give the meat a funky, metallic taste. With the exception of stainless steel, it can also corrode the pan.

Pour the marinade slowly over the meat, so that plenty of it gets down into those slits you've made.

Once you've got all of the marinade in the pan, turn the meat over two or three times, ending with the skin side down in the marinade. Cover the dish with some plastic cling wrap and refrigerate it for a minimum of 30 minutes, but no longer than about an hour. The citric acid in fruit juices breaks down the fibers in the meat and if you leave it in too long, it will make the meat mushy. I don't know about you, but in my book, mushy chicken (or any other meat) is not very appetizing. That's why I avoid buying the "pre-marinated" meats that you often find in the grocery store butcher case. 

When the chicken has finished marinating, remove it from the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for a maximum of about 10 minutes. When meats like beef and lamb are coming fresh from the fridge, you want to bring them up to almost room temperature before grilling or roasting them, but poultry and pork can start to "turn" when they get too warm, while still in their raw state. Discard any remaining marinade.

Place the chicken pieces on a rack, placed over a foil-lined sheet pan or broiler pan. Roast it in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes. (depending on your oven and the size of the chicken pieces) Check on it at about the 30-minute mark and if the internal temperature is 165 degrees and the juices run clear, it's done. The days of cooking chicken until it's shriveled up and bone dry are over, folks. Meats continue to cook for several minutes after being removed from the heat source and their internal temperature will rise (up to 5 degrees) as it rests.

While the chicken is cooking, make the vinaigrette.

Tequila Lime Vinaigrette

• 1/4 Cup Tequila
• Juice of 1 Lime
• Zest of 1 Lime
• 1 Tbls Honey (heaping)
• 1 Lg Shallot, minced
• Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley, chopped
• 1/4 Cup Light Olive or Vegetable Oil
• Salt and Pepper

This looks like a lot of shallots, but it's really not. They just float to the top.

Place all of the ingredients in a small mixing bowl and whisk to combine. You can also use a stick blender or put them in a blender or food processor if you want the vinaigrette to be more smooth. If the kiddies will be joining you for this meal, you can leave the tequila out of the vinaigrette or make a separate batch without it for them. The tequila in the marinade will be fine. The alcohol burns off during the cooking process.

You might have noticed that the ingredients in the marinade and the vinaigrette are almost identical ...and they are. Almost.

I used orange juice in the marinade, because honey is very thick and contains more natural sugar. This would have made the skin on the chicken more likely to burn. The orange juice added a perfect balance of sweetness, without the risk of charring the skin before the meat was cooked through.

I served this zesty chicken with a crisp green salad and some Jasmati rice that I prepared "Chipotle Grill" style. We love their rice, so I asked one day when we were in there, just what it is that they do to give it such a bright, fresh flavor. It couldn't be any easier.

Just cook your rice as you normally would ( **I make mine in the microwave) and when it's done and you're ready to fluff it up with a fork, just squeeze in some fresh lime juice, add some chopped cilantro and continue to fluff. And voila! You have Chipotle's Cilantro Lime Rice! (I didn't have any fresh cilantro on hand, so I used flat leaf parsley this time)

Drizzle the vinaigrette over the chicken and pour the rest in a small bowl and pass it at the table. We used it on everything!

**I don't use instant or quick cooking rice. If you do, just follow the instructions on the package and then add the lime juice and cilantro/parsley at the end.

Chef Steve Binks demonstrating the Jaccard Meat Tenderizer


Don't Forget To Follow Me On Social Media! I Post Blog Updates, Ideas For Kitchen "How To's", Restaurant Recommendations And Reviews... And Always Lots Of Photos!

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Don't forget that you can print this (or any) recipe using the "Print Friendly" button at the foot of each post. It's a great little feature that allows you to remove any pictures (or any text that isn't relevant to the recipe) before printing. That can save on ink and paper & in today's economy, who doesn't want to save a little cash when you can?!